The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says further studies are needed to understand why performance in core subjects continues to fluctuate from year to year.

The admission comes after the latest WASSCE results showed another sharp change in candidates' performance in key subjects.

While Mathematics recorded a significant improvement this year, English Language saw a decline. The pattern has raised questions about why one core subject appears to replace another as the weakest performer.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, Director of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, said the Council’s assessment is largely guided by reports from its chief examiners.

He said the available analysis shows that English Language performance has been steadily declining between 2023 and 2026.

“Mathematics is fluctuating, Inter-Science is also fluctuating, and Social Studies is fluctuating as well, apart from last year that saw a significant dip in the performance of Social Studies.”

Mr Kapi said Social Studies has traditionally been among the highest-performing core subjects in the WASSCE.

He said the recurring difficulties in the core subjects should prompt a closer look at how students are prepared for the examination.

“I think that basically what we need to look at is the kind of things that we would feed our children in terms of how to prepare them adequately for the examination,” he said.

According to Mr Kapi, the chief examiners’ reports have identified several basic weaknesses among candidates, particularly in English Language.

He said some of these are skills students are expected to have mastered before reaching senior high school.

“When we look at the chief examiners' report, some of the basic things that they mention as the reason for the failure rate, especially in English language, are things that you expect the children would have mastered from the basic level through to the senior high school level.”

He explained that only the summary passage shows a significant difference in how English is tested at the senior high school level.

“The only technical thing that is different in terms of the way they are tested is the summary passage, which is not something that they come across until they get to the senior high school.”

Mr Kapi said the persistent fluctuations suggest that WAEC and education stakeholders need to go beyond the usual examination reports.

“So, we probably need to do a further study beyond the report that the chief examiners give us and see why candidates are, you know, not performing in these subjects in the senior high school.”